The social media expert is one of the most misleading titles that have evolved with the recent buzz behind new media. These days social media expert is a title that is pretty much a golden star for signing up to every social network that is featured on Oprah.

I wouldn’t hire a guy that reads Garfield in the comics section of the newspaper as a journalist, a daytime television couch potato to manage a million dollar advertising campaign or someone who has listened to every Celine Dion album to sing at your wedding, why then would you call someone who spends all day on Twittering about what they had for lunch to roll out a well thought out strategic social media campaign.

That being said I judge social media experts on the merits of their strategic knowledge and track record for results rather than enthusiasm for watching videos on YouTube or having one way conversations with Ashton Kutcher on Twitter.

I have put together a list of 7 social media strategists from different fields that I look up to, not for the number of Facebook friends or Twitter followers they have but for the impact they deliver and their contribution to their respective fields.

Public Relations: Dave Fleet
Dave Fleet is blogger, public speaker and senior consultant at PR firm Thornley Fallis.

His insights into the traditional world of PR and familiarity with the world of technology lead to a balanced and innovative approach to PR and how it is involving in the new media space.

DaveFleet.com

Government 2.0: Mark Kuznicki
Mark Kuznicki works at intersection of technology, public policy and social innovation according to the website of his consultancy Remarkk Consulting.

He has played a big role in initiatives such as ChangeCamp and Toronto TransitCamp which aimed to ìre-imagine government and citizenship in the age of participation”. He has great insights into social change and the essence of community and is always doing something interesting for the city of Toronto.

Remarkk.com

Newspapers: Matthew Ingram
Matthew Ingram is the Communities Editor at the Globe and Mail and is tasked with helping make it easier for readers to interact with the paper and its writers and content.

In reality this means aiding the newspaper’s transition into the new era. He is definitely one of the more forward thinking minds in the industry and is fully at home online which makes him one of the more ambitious online media strategists.
MatthewIngram.com

Communities, Love and Buzz: Saul Colt
The self proclaimed ‘Smartest Man in the World’ – Saul Colt is one of the few people out there that doesn’t need to talk about community building and experiential marketing, his droves of loyal fans, speak for him.

In his work at Freshbooks, Zipcar and now Zoocasa, he has managed to rally people behind great products and inspired them to be a part of a experience rather a marketing plan.

When asked about how he measured marketing success I clearly remember Saul replying: “If you have to measure it, you probably aren’t doing a good job”.

Saul is a lively personality that is admired because he follows no one’s rules but his own and at the end of the day brings in the results and makes people rethink the brand experience.

SaulColt.com

Marketing metrics: Christopher Berry
Christopher is the Director of Marketing Science at Critical Mass and works with exciting clients such as Mercedes-Benz, Rolex, Dell and even NASA.

I had the pleasure of hearing Chris lead a session on social media metrics at Netchange and it was a great preface for measuring the immeasurable of the world of social marketing.

It wouldn’t do justice to corner Chris as a social media expert, he is a marketing science and web analytics strategist that aims to marketing better and more traceable.

As valuable as the brand experience is in marketing, without any metrics it is hard to justify the spend, marketing can just be a novelty. Chris does a great job at putting marketing at the board room table by quantifying results and success.

Blog

Communities, technology and innovation: Rahaf Harfoush
Toronto native, Rahaf Harfoush, is a new media expert and the Associate Director of the Global Cooperation Initiative at the World Economic Forum in Geneva where she co-leads the development of the Forum’s online community platform.

Prior, she worked as an analyst at Don Tapscott’s think tank nGenera where she contributed to several notable books including Wikinomics and Grown Up Digital and most famously, spent three months with the acclaimed Obama New Media team in Chicago during the past American election.

RahafHarfoush.com

Enterprise 2.0: Kevin Morris
Kevin is enigmatic young technologist that works with as a consultant with several construction companies, an adviser at an executive coaching firm, a contributor to the Wikinomics blog and a researcher for nGenera.

In his work with large corporations with thousands of employees, he uses technology to solve fundamental issues faced by the construction industry and help them become more transparent, efficient and collaborative.

KevinMorris.ca

Web and digital divide Craig Heintzman
Craig began building the World Wide Web Foundation’s development strategy and assisting in the overall fund-raising process in 2009 and is playing an instrumental part in their future.

Their mandate to advance the web, connect humanity and empower people across the world using technology and the internet, making it accessible to more people.

The organisation was founded by creator of the World Wide Web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee and they working on several interesting initiatives including implementing web standards such as voice XML, mobile and commerce empowerment in third world countries.

They are planning on rolling on several new initiatives over the next few months and have grandiose plans to bringing the web to the world and even the global playing field.

WebFoundation.org

Mobile Media: David Coleman
Dave Coleman is a young maverick from the Toronto start up community that is known for both his drive and exciting vision of the future of mobile media and those companies we commonly refer to as the newspapers.

He calls himself the modern day newspaper delivery boy and is the Director of Marketing at Toronto based startup Spreed Inc. that develops mobile applications for newspapers such as the Globe and Mail.

Dave believes in mobile as more than just a channel for distributing newspaper articles but rather of relaying the strengths of the traditional media in the new world of online and mobile.

He has been involved in several other Toronto startups including Brainpark, CommunityLend and was the co-founder with myself of the GenYTO monthly meetup for young people in the startup industry.

Spreed Inc.

That is my list. Who do you have in your personal network that you look up to as an expert in their respective fields?